White House Confirms Obama Visit Set For Jan. 21

President Barack Obama will visit Schenectady a week from Friday to tour General Electric Co. facilities and deliver a speech on exports and high-tech jobs.

A White House official confirmed Obama will visit on Jan. 21. The White House is expected to release more information later in the day.

Itâ¿¿s a trip Obama was supposed to make earlier this week, but he postponed it so he could travel to Arizona in the wake of the shootings there. A gunman in Tuscon killed six people outside a supermarket and wounded about a dozen others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Obama will tour a few buildings on the GE campus, including a manufacturing plant for making advanced batteries that will employ 350 people when it opens later this year. Another likely stop on the tour is the nearby headquarters for GE Renewable Energy.

The White House issued a statement saying Obama "will make remarks on the importance of growing the economy and making America more competitive by investing in jobs, innovation and clean energy."

GE (NYSE: GE) is one of the nationâ¿¿s largest exporters. The company announced a $750 million contract to produce gas and steam turbines for an Indian power company just before Obamaâ¿¿s trip to that nation last fall.

GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt will lead Obama on the tour of the plant.

The trip marks Obamaâ¿¿s second to the Capital Region in 16 months. Obama delivered a speech at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy in September 2009 in a visit to highlight the schoolâ¿¿s high-tech training programs.